


You're My Favorite Color

by Leopardd



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Shapeshifter, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates, Soulmates-colors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 08:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leopardd/pseuds/Leopardd
Summary: Devin Sommers is from a family of well-known Shapeshifters. She has been around since 1629. However, this is no surprise to her or those that know her secret. Shapeshifters are nearly immortal beings, and Devin has been cursed to spend to her time chasing after a human soulmate who keeps being reincarnated. Armed with a timer that has long since stopped ticking and a black and white world, Devin searches for her soulmate. Devin is tired of searching, though. This time, she decides to do something about it. If only she can get through the obstacle that her soulmate's hunter parents pose.





	1. Chapter 1

     Here she went again. Devin sighed as she picked up the box from the back of her hatchback with ease. The box was labeled as “MOVIES” in an angular script. The girl that held it was tall, toned, and tan. She sported a dark brown short undercut that matched chocolate brown eyes. Devin was only aware of the tones of color that made up her from her past experiences with her soulmate.

     Devin weaved around all the families moving in excited freshman girls. She, however, was alone. She’d been around her family much, much longer than these young girls, though. Most of these girls were actually the age they appeared to be. This thought caused Devin to giggle for just a moment. As she stepped onto the elevator with a couple other girls and their families, parents reassured nervous ramblings. Devin just settled back into the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor of the building. This was far from her first time moving in as a freshman.

     Devin exited the elevator on her floor and headed down the hall to find her room. 412. There it was! Devin pulled the key from a small envelope that had been given to her when she checked into the dorm.  She reached the key towards the handle just as it opened in front of her.

     “Oh!” A girl just a couple of inches shorter than Devin exclaimed. She had long hair that she had pulled back into a ponytail. Devin tried to guess its color, but the shades of grey that colored her world in the absence of her soulmate left her clueless. “You must be Devin Sommers. I’m Jaelyn Miller, but you can call me Jae. Nice to meet you,” she said, holding out her hand.

     Devin looked at the girl’s hand before tilting her head to the box that occupied both of hers. “Let me set this down first.”

     “Of course,” Jae laughed and stepped out of the doorway.

     Devin walked past her into the room. She couldn't keep herself from scenting her roommate as she walked in. Jae smelled as most humans did: neutral mixed with the artificial scents of soaps and perfumes. It seemed that Jae was fond of floral scents. Devin then turn her attention to the room around her. It was spacious. Two twin sized beds were on either side of the room with their sides against the wall. Between them sat two dressers side by side. They were the perfect height to double as bedside tables. Across the room from the dressers, two wardrobes stood tall with more drawers on the bottom half of them. Two desks lay claim to the spaces on either side of the wardrobes. In the corner of the room, just on the other side of the sink, a small mini fridge sat with a microwave on top of it. After taking in the entire room, Devin sat the box down on the unmade bed and turned back towards Jaelyn.

     “Nice to meet you, too.” This time Devin held out a hand, and Jaelyn reached forward and shook it with a smile.

     The scents hit Devin before the voice did. They were neutral like Jae, but less floral. Minty almost. “You must be Jae’s roommate,” an excited voice called from the door.

     Devin turned around and was faced with a couple who looked to be in their mid- to late-forties.

     “Devin, this is my mom and dad.” Jae smiled and walked toward the couple as she introduced them.

     Devin smiled and greeted both of them happily. Devin then headed out of the door and back down to her hatchback.

     It wasn’t long before Devin was walking back to her dorm. She found Jae and her parents unpacking boxes. Devin simply stepped around them and sat her two boxes down on the bed. She started to head back out, but she was stopped by Jae’s mother.

     “Are your parents not helping you out, dear?”

     “No, ma’am. I’m moving in on my own.” Devin shrugged.

     With that, Jae and her father stopped what they were doing. “We can help you,” Mr. Miller said.

     Devin smiled and accepted the help. She lead Jae and her parents down to her vehicle. With the four of them, it only took one trip to get everything into the room.

     Once back into the room, all four of them settled into silence as they unpacked. It was comfortable, and Devin enjoyed there just being other people around. That silence was soon broken, though.

     “Devin, I noticed that your timer was finished. Does your soulmate go here as well?” Mrs. Miller asked.

     Devin froze for a second before slowly hanging up the shirt she had picked up. She tried to think up a lie that wouldn’t sound too awful. She didn’t want them to throw a pity party for her. She also wanted to be able to explain what had happened if she managed to find her soulmate. If she had reincarnated, that is. It was strange, though, Devin thought. She always ended up where ever her soulmate was when her timer was close to ticking down. Devin just went with the flow. She knew that eventually she would be pulled towards her soulmate, and that was enough for her. She had been doing so for just over three centuries. She would continue to do so. It then hit Devin just how long she had been alive. The thought would cross her mind every so often and almost startle her for just a moment. Of course, shapeshifters live long enough that they could nearly claim the term of immortal, but when not around her family, Devin tended to forget about that.

     Realizing that she had gotten lost in her thoughts, Devin gave her head a small shake. She turned and picked up another shirt and reached for a hanger. “I… I don’t know. My timer is glitched. It never started a countdown, but I still don’t have color, so I assume that my soulmate is still out there somewhere.” She hoped the lie was enough. Devin glanced up, and judging by the sympathetic look in Mrs. Miller’s eyes, Devin was in the clear.

     Jae proudly brought her wrist up and brandished her ticking timer. Devin focused on the numbers that read 4982:17:12. The last two numbers ticked away the seconds as the timer was held in the air. “It’s just under seven months. I can’t wait to meet him.” Devin watched as the girl’s eyes took on a dreamy look; she could sympathize. She always looked forward to when she was reunited with her soulmate in her next life.

* * *

 

     The next morning found Devin snarling as her alarm clock on her phone screamed it’s lovely tune at her. She rolled over, grabbed her phone and shut off the alarm. A grunt left her body as she noticed the time. 7 am. She had class in an hour, which meant she had thirty minutes to get dressed and get out of the building. As Devin threw herself out of bed to shuffle over to the sink, the door to the room opened. A cheery, freshly showered Jae walked into the room, a towel tucked tightly around her. She smelled strongly of the floral scent Devin had started to associate with her. 

     “Good morning, sleepy head!”

     Another grumble left Devin. Why did she have to get a roommate that enjoyed the mornings? “You don’t have class until nine? Why are you up at the asscrack of dawn?” As she spoke, Devin ran her toothbrush under the water and added a dollop of paste.The minty taste flooded her mouth, and Devin allowed it to wake her up a little.

     “An hour to shower and an hour to get ready, silly.” Jae’s peppiness this early in the morning would soon get on Devin’s nerves. During the day, Devin could be as peppy as a cheerleader. But until she had woken up entirely, a process that involved time and food, she was hardly the human she pretended to be.

     Devin finished her morning routine by 7:20. She took the extra time to pack her backpack and grab an apple from the bowl she had placed above the microwave in the room. Apple in hand, Devin called a goodbye to her roommate and headed out the door.

     Devin walked to her class as she ate her apple. She was earning herself many stares from the people she passed. She knew what they were seeing: the grace with which she walked. Her shifted form gave her the grace and form of a stalking cat. Anyone to make this comparison wasn’t too far off. Her shifted from just so happened to be a snow leopard.

     The first two classes of her day were back to back and passed by rather quickly and without incident. At 9:30, her class let out early, and she had an hour and a half before her next class. The leopard in her was itching to go for a run. It had been a couple of days, and Devin rarely kept the beast locked away for more than twelve hours. On her way into the campus the day before, she had noticed a park with a forest at the back of it.

     With a quick glance at her phone to check the time, Devin decided that if she hurried she could be in her car and then the park in about fifteen minutes. Tucking her phone into her pocket, Devin rushed to her car.

     Just as she had predicted, fifteen minutes later found her sitting in the parking lot of the park. She left her car and jogged to the woods, scanning the park as she went. Children’s play equipment littered the areas she passed, but as soon as she stepped into the treeline, it was just her and the greys of the forest. She continued on into the trees, seeking significant cover. Once she was sure she was covered, Devin stripped down and neatly piled her clothes under a tree. Then, she set an alarm on her phone that would give her twenty-five minutes to get to class. This gave her forty-five to let her leopard run wild. She left her phone with her clothes before stepping away.

     Closing her eyes with focus, Devin felt her body changing. The shift from her human form to her leopard form was always a little painful, but it was the kind of pain that resembled ripping off a tight bandage: release. Her muscles and bones protested the shift at first, but within seconds they were relaxing into an easier form. When Devin next opened her eyes, she was greeted with the sight of large, heavy paws below her. A large sigh of relief left her body and four paw’s worth of claws dug into the ground below her. In an instant, Devin was off, letting her paws carry her as fast as they could. She weaved around trees. Under logs. Over logs. Into the lowest branches of trees. She could feel the release settling over her. It always felt amazing to be in her shifted form after a couple of days spent as a human. As much as some shifters tried, they could never keep in their human forms for very long. Too long without the controlled release of a shift, and they lost that control. Any strong emotion could set it off. A family friend had paid the price of losing control. He lost his soulmate. She was a young shifter, about two hundred years younger than him. Her small bunny stood no chance against a pissed off, pent-up lion. Devin always promised herself, and her human soulmate, that she would never let herself get to that point. She kept that promise even after her soulmate had passed on for that lifetime.

     Devin came to a stop in her sprinting and let her breath leave her in pants and huffs. She now strolled leisurely back toward her clothes and phone. As she walked, she looked around the forest. Everything was covered in shades of grey and Devin hated it. She remembered what bright, beautiful, green trees looked like. She missed the way sunlight would dapple the forest floor. Color may have been gone from her world, but Devin still had a sense of smell. The forest was earthy and made her want to fall back into the leaves that littered the ground. The few pines around filled the air with their scent. Honeysuckles were her favroite part, though. It reminded her of the forest near her family home. Even though scent could paint a beautiful picture for her, she just wanted her color back. More importantly, she wanted her soulmate back.

     About ten yards ahead of her, Devin’s phone started blaring its tune. Her time was up. Jogging the last stretch, she shifted in time to land her in front of her clothes and phone as a human. Once the alarm was shut off, Devin pulled her clothes back on and headed out of the forest.

     When she was back into her car, Devin allowed herself to breathe for just a moment. In that moment, she already missed the freedom that the forest and four paws offered her. With a promise to herself that this would be a frequent hangout of hers, Devin headed back to campus and to her next class.

     Twenty minutes later found Devin sitting in the back of a classroom, waiting as students slowly trickled in. That was when a short and skinny girl walked into the room. Her shoulder length hair was such a dark shade of grey, that Devin guessed it had to be dark brown. Something pulled Devin to her. Could it be her? She felt… She felt familiar to Devin. Like someone she was supposed to know. Devin studied the back of the girl’s head as she took a seat a couple of rows ahead of her.

     “Good morning! Welcome, to American History I.” A deep voice broke Devin out of her thoughts. She glanced up to see a wiry old man standing at the front of the room. It didn’t take long for Devin to block him out and let her thoughts flood with the idea that she could maybe, finally be finding her soulmate again. It had been almost thirty years since Devin had last held her soulmate, but who was counting? Devin was. Always.

     Class passed by so slowly that Devin felt like the professor, Dr. Barns, was talking to her through molasses. As soon as he dismissed the class, Devin jumped up from her seat. She was determined to bump into this girl who felt so familiar to her. It was an easy enough feat. The two people who sat between Devin and the girl left before the girl even had time to put her things into her backpack. Timing her movements just right, Devin was able to gently bump into the girl as she was standing up. This sent the small girl tipping, but Devin had anticipated that. With cat-like reflexes, she reached out and gripped the girl around her waist, keeping her on her feet.

     “I am so sorry,” the words fell from Devin’s lips like they had been rehearsed because they had. “I should have been paying better attention.” Devin released the girl once she was sure she was able to stand on her own two feet. With a smile, she reached out a hand to the girl. “I’m Devin.”

     A small, soft hand quickly shook Devin’s. “I’m Emma.” The voice was tiny and gone before Devin could say anything else. By the time Devin had realized what was going on, Emma was already out of the door. A hint of oranges and honeysuckle hung in the air where Emma had stood. Dumbfounded, Devin stood and glanced down. Maybe she had been wrong? Would her soulmate really run like that? Shaking her head, she headed out of the room. She had let her hopes get way too high. Of course, her soulmate wouldn't run away like that. She would have known her timer was ticking down and realized who Devin was as soon as she spoke.

     Shoving her hands into her pockets, Devin walked out of the building, no sign at all of the girl she had just bumped into. Oh, well. Maybe she wouldn’t meet her soulmate here. The thoughts swirled around Devin’s head as she walked out of the building. Maybe she could go grab some lunch before she went back to her dorm room. Turning her feet towards one of the cafeterias on campus, she shrugged. Maybe soon. She had been wrong before. It was far from the first time.

     As she walked, something caught her eye. A bird pecking at a bug on the around about ten feet from her. Birds had always been a favorite animal of Devin’s. They reminded her of how free she felt when she was in her shifted form. She let a smile cross her face as she turned her eyes away from the red bird. Wait… Red bird? Devin looked up again in time to see the red bird taking flight off into a pale grey sky.

 


	2. Chapter 2

   Devin walked into the dorm room to find Jae, sitting at her desk in front of her laptop. They called simple greetings to each other. Devin set down her backpack and sat down on the edge of her bed. She’d been in a bit of a daze since she watched that red bird fly off a few hours earlier. 

   Now, she was glancing around the room, noticing all of the red in the room. The bright apples that are above her microwave. The shirt she had worn to bed the night before that now lay crumpled on the floor. A pen that lay on Jae’s desk. It seemed so weird to see the color again after so long.

   “Hey, Jae?” Devin’s voice trembled as she called out to her roommate. 

   “What’s up?” Jae replied as she turned her chair to face Devin. “You okay?”

   “I think I may have met my soulmate.”

   “What do you mean you think? How do you not know?” Jae questions. “Tell me about him!” She quickly added. 

   Her question was skeptical, and Devin could understand why. In a world where timers announced soulmates, phrases like ‘I think’ and ‘may have’ are never used. Instead of an answer, Devin lifts her previously claimed ‘glitched’ timer as she feels the heat of a blush rise on her cheeks. It’s moments like this, that she is thankful for Jae’s lack of color. 

   “Oh, right. Why do you think that, then?” 

   Devin’s eyes zero in on the red pen adorning Jae’s desk. “Well, for starters, there's a red pen on your desk.” After seeing the puzzled look on Jae’s face, Devin quickly spits out the rehearsed lie she’d worked on before entering the room. “I went online to those color websites till I found the only one I could see.” 

   “What does it look like?”

   Jae’s question came from a small, shy voice, and it made Devin remember just how close her roommate was to meet her soulmate. The question also made Devin pause for a few long moments. How would she describe a color to someone who couldn’t see it? Devin tried to think. She started to dismiss the question, but she fell back into past lives lived with her soulmate by her side, and the words flowed freely from her. 

   “Most might jump straight to anger, but that doesn’t feel right.” She paused for a moment. An image of Emma’s first life sitting in a field of flowers in front of Devin. “It’s more like that feeling when you look at her and realize that you love her.” Another flash of a memory; a past life of sneaking around for decades because their love wasn’t approved of. “It’s such a fierce love and passion for someone, you’d do anything for her.” Countless different times now sparked from Dean's memory. She was there each and every time Emma died. “It’s also that feeling of knowing you did your all, and yet, you still lost her.” 

   “Oh… Wow. I think red is my favorite color.”

   Devin was brought back from her memories by Jae’s comment and the pure wonderment in her voice.

   “Well, what happened? Wait…her?”

   Devin nodded, holding her breath and waiting for the worst, “Her.”

   “Okay, tell me about her.”

   With a small sigh of relief, Devin relayed the events of her day to Jae. “Then, she just ran off. I barely got to introduce myself. I thought I was wrong until I walked outside to see a red bird fly away.”

   “You need to find her.”

   “Thanks, captain obvious. I don’t even know where to start.” Devin fell backward on her bed in frustration. “I had planned to start searching tomorrow.”

   Jae nodded to Devin, approving of her plan.

   Later that night, Devin lay in bed unable to sleep. This whole issue about Emma was driving her crazy. Devin was used to an instant connection between them. What if this was all falling apart? She didn’t know of any other shifters with human soulmates. In her clan nearly everyone had a shifter soulmate. Although, one had a vampire, and another had found a werewolf. Devin was the first with a human soulmate. Maybe all of the years of reincarnation was taking a toll on that bond. Then, wouldn’t it just be cruel to meet Emma in the first place?

   A drowsy voice interrupted her wild rollercoaster of thoughts. “Devin, I swear if you do not stop tossing and turning every two seconds, I am going to throw something at you. You’ll find her.”

   The groggy voice of Jae made Devin realize that while her thoughts had been running rampant and consuming her, she had disrupted her roommate’s sleep, and Devin was not about to tussle with the threat of Jae throwing something at her. In the few days she had known her roommate, Devin had come to learn that while Jae was fairly friendly, she could be a bit of an ass when she needed to be. 

   “Sorry, Jae…” Devin trailed off as she closed her eyes and shoved every thought far from her mind or at least as far as she could shove them.

 

   The next morning found Devin sitting in class again. On her way, Devin had scanned every face she passed, searching for Emma. She found nothing. Now, she sat with her eyes searching the room. This was how her entire morning went. With her break between her two classes, Devin searched the main campus buildings and areas. Sadly, there was still no sign of Emma. 

   Once out of class, Devin continued her search. Saying she was on the verge of panicking was one hell of an understatement. This had never happened before. There was always an instant connection between her and her soulmates. She loathed this. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be! It was supposed to go just like every other time before. They met, the realization hit about the same time a color found its way into Devin’s vision, and that was it. Devin was set for that lifetime. There was never any of this searching,  wondering, or guessing. It didn’t feel right. It felt like something was off. Devin wanted it fixed. She just wanted her soulmate. 

   Devin spent the next few hours continuing her search of the campus. Then, a rational part of her brain finally spoke up, or r was it that Devin finally listened to what it had been screaming at her for hours? She could just see Emma tomorrow in class. She could head back to her dorm now and get some homework done instead of neglecting everything to search for Emma. 

   She trudged back to her resident hall. Opening the door to her room, she called a greeting to Jae. She was sitting on her bed with a book in her hand. 

   Devin watched as Jae closed her book, sat it down, and turned to her with eyes wide. “Any luck? Did you even go to class?”

   At the question, Devin turned and glanced in the mirror even she could see how rattled she looked. “Yes, Mom. I went to class.” Devin shot Jae a look, knowing she would worry less if Devin were able to joke around a bit. “However, I didn’t find her.” A backpack thrown down onto the floor punctuated her frustrated sentence. “I’ll see her tomorrow though. I hope.” Devin tacked on the last bit with a sigh. She settled down at her desk,  pulled her textbooks down from the shelf above her, and grabbed notebooks and notecards out of her backpack. She spent the next couple of hours working on problems for Algebra, readings for Literature, and notecards for Biology. She had to keep herself busy, or she’d do nothing but think about Emma. It was getting to an unhealthy point, but Devin couldn’t stop herself. What if it really was the reincarnation taking a toll on their bond? Devin didn’t allow herself to linger long on the thought.

   However, around six, another distraction presented itself. Her stomach was yelling for food. Heaving a heavy sigh, Devin pushed herself up from her desk and turned to face Jae. 

   “I’m going to go grab some food from the cafe if you want to join me?” Devin felt it was polite to invite her roommate along, but she had to admit that she didn’t mind at all if Jae did join her. She was starting to enjoy the company her roommate offered.

   “No. Thank you, though. I’ve got plans with some friends.”

   “Alright, I’ll be back later then,” Devin said as he grabbed her keys, wallet, and headphones. She headed out of the door with a wave of goodbye to Jae. As she made her way out of the building, she plugged her headphones into her phone and blared music as she walked. 

   Halfway to the cafeteria across campus, something small bumped into Devin’s side. As a reflex, Devin reached to steady whatever had run into her, but she was too late. A small grunt left the person as they landed on the ground with a soft blump. 

   After she yanked her headphones out of her ears, she started to offer up an apology, “Oh! I’m so so---,” Devin trailed off as she looked down at the person. “It’s you!”

   Emma glanced up, and Devin watched as a lovely blush, the palest shade of red against the white of Emma’s cheeks, started to spread. It still seemed odd to see just one color in a world colored by shades of gray.

   “My timer was right, but you didn’t say anything.” Emma’s voice was shy and small as she accused Devin from her spot on the ground. 

   “Well,” Devin reached a hand down to help Emma to her feet. “I wasn't sure.” Once Emma was standing, Devin was reminded just how much shorter than her Emma was. The thought made her beam. It was always a common factor in Emma’s past lives. She was always the short one. Devin shook herself from her thoughts and held out her timer. Here was usually when Devin would explain everything about herself and their past together, but the last thing she wanted to send Emma running again. Devin did what she did best; she lied. It was hard to lie to Emma just like it had always been hard to lie to her soulmate. 

   “It’s glitched. It’s been like this forever. Before I met you, I didn’t have color though, so I figured you were out there somewhere. When you ran away, I thought my assumption was wrong. Until, I stepped outside, and a red bird flew into the sky.” 

   “Oh, so purple will follow after I get red.” 

   The comment was so quiet and seemed like such an afterthought that Devin wasn’t sure she had heard right. Then, it dawned on her. Each soulmate gained one primary color at first. As the two got closer they gained the other’s primary color before the colors merged to form the third color the couple would see together. After these first three colors, the soulmates then gained their colors at different times. This made Devin smile. Their very first combination was purple. It had always been Devin’s favorite color.

   “Where were you heading?”

   Emma’s words pulled Devin out of her thoughts, and she smiled as she replied. “To the cafeteria to get some food. Wanna come with?”

   Emma nodded, and Devin could see the nerves playing across the gentle features of her face. They even colored her bright blue eyes.

   Wait, blue? Devin smiled. The color fits little Emma perfectly. 


End file.
